The accumulation of dried nasal mucus in the nostrils can make breathing difficult. Additionally, it is believed by many that excess mucus and debris should be removed from the nostrils and sinus passages to promote health and relieve or decrease symptoms associated with rhinitis or sinusitis, including facial pain, headache, halitosis, cough, anterior rhinorrhea and nasal congestion.
A known technique for cleansing or removing excess mucus and debris from the nostrils is nasal irrigation (also known as nasal lavage or nasal douche), which is a personal hygiene practice involving flushing the nasal cavity with water or a saline solution, and encompasses pouring the solution from a container into one nostril and allowing it to run out the other nostril and into a sink or spraying the solution into the nostrils. Nasal irrigation techniques can be difficult, uncomfortable and messy.
Other known techniques have generally involved removing mucous (wet or dry) from the nostrils with a finger or a cotton swab or similar device. Use of a finger to remove mucous (wet or dry) is often ineffective and is generally shunned as a disgusting practice. Use of devices such as cotton swabs can also be ineffective and could result in injury and/or extreme discomfort. The use of a finger, cotton swabs or other known devices for removing mucus can actually push the mucus up the nostril, increasing discomfort and/or exacerbating breathing difficulties. These devices and techniques are especially unsuitable for infants and children because of the smaller size (e.g., diameter) of their nostrils, which prevents fingers or other objects from being used to remove mucus. Further, it can be dangerous to insert fingers or other known devices into nostrils of subjects, especially infants and small children.
Expelling mucus by forcefully exhaling through the nostrils (“blowing one's nose”) is generally ineffective at removing dried mucus material.
Nasal aspirators for evacuating mucus is somewhat effective for removing wet mucus from the nostrils, but is generally incapable of removing dried mucus, especially mucus encrusted on nasal tissue.
None of the afore-mentioned techniques or devices is well suited for removing dried mucus (also known as “boogers”) from nostrils. The afore-mentioned techniques are particularly unsuitable for removing dried mucus from the nostrils of infants.